gearsofwarfandomcom-20200222-history
Siege of Anvil Gate
Gears of War: Anvil Gate CH 17 The Siege of Anvil GateGears of War: Aspho Fields p. 190 was an major battle during the Pendulums Wars, years before Aspho Fields. Lieutenant Victor Hoffman's lead Pesang troops and Gears in an all-out siege. His Pesang commandos distinguished themselves by their skill. During the siege Hoffman wrote his wife a letter thinking it would be the last thing she sent him. Hoffman would later win the battle. Years later in the Locust War, the now Col.Hoffman would compare the battle to the opening of the Siege of Jacinto 15 years after Emergence Day. A monument was placed in the Tomb of the Unknowns, dedicated to the men and women that fought at Anvil Gate.Gears of War: Aspho Fields p. 166 Order of Battle Prelude The fortress of Anvil Gate was a military outpost that projected southern Kashkur pass and the city of Anvegad since the age of horse era carriage. No enemy army had ever captured the mountain pass. After the silver mines where depleted, and the discovery that Imulsion could be used for fuel, Anvil Gate found a much more strategic value. Anvil Gate set atop a mountain pass surrounded by low land and able to see any advancing army from Vasgar for miles. Behind the mountaintop fort was a gorge that lead into the heart of Kashkur. In the sixty-second year of the Pendulum Wars, Anvil Gate, on the southern border, was on the “quiet war” unlike the western border. Newly promoted Lieutenant Victor Hoffman was stationed there to assist Capitan Ranald Sander, who was fresh out of the academy. Anvil Gate held a garrison of over 100 Gears along with a battery managed by Prince Ozore's Artillery. Vasgar occupied Since Vasgar was neutral until the forced resignation of President Llim by the Unity Party, the UIR, under Chairman Daniel Vari, saw an opportunity to open a second front on Kashkur and captured the Imulsion supply. The Furlin's Third Infantry would advance on the western Kashkur border while another Indie army would hit Anvil Gate head on. The Gears on the western border, in Forward Operating Base Tyro, prepared to cut-off the Imulsion supply in Vasgar, making an occupation for the Indies difficult and shutting down all infrastructure in the nation.Gears of War Anvil Gate The acting president of Vasgar protested the decision to the COG chairman but his concerns fell on deaf ears. Trap With the Gears at Anvil Gate, preparing for a battle, Lieutenant Hoffman and Private Padrick Salton, scouted the road from Vasgar to see how much open land the Indie army would have to cross, knowing they would take heavy losses from COG snipers and artillery from Anvil Gate, until the gorge behind the fort was blown by Indie saboteurs, effectively cutting them off from the rest of Kashkur. At the same time, an Indie army had bypassed a Vasgar police roadblock and headed towards the fort. While on the observation post, Lt.Hoffman and Cpt.Sanders observed the Indie advancement on the local refinery, while Anvil's guns began targeting the refinery. The post was hit by a single Indie RPG, killing several gears and including Sanders, leaving a wounded Hoffman the highest-ranking officer on Anvil Gate. False attack Lt.Hoffmon would send Pad and a team of Gears looking for the enemy Indie, not knowing if it was an Indie commando or a local sympathizer. Lt.Hoffman would give high command a sitrep on the situation. But with Shavad under siege and the only land rout destroyed, HQ could not spare any supplies or Gears except for a Pesang detachment of six soldiers. The Siege of Anvil Gate For three months the Fifteenth Furlin Cavalry pounded Anvil Gate, but by the third month over one thousand Kashkuri civilians were dead or tried to get pass the Indie lines. Anvil Gate's walls were destroyed by the constant mortar fire, leaving large amount of holes in the wall; allowing civilians to steal rations, forcing Lt.Hoffman to execute a civilian who stole food for his children. At this point Hoffman knew he could not last any longer under the siege. On open coms, Hoffman offered to surrender the garrison if the civilian population would be allowed safe passage. While the civilians were being prepared for the evacuation, Hoffman had the Gears and Pesang rifleman enter the wooden section of the city and fed Imulsion to the wooden buildings and open garbage. During the surrender signing, the Gears allowed Cpt. Benoslau of the Fifteenth Furlin Cavalry to enter the fort, while his men entered the wooden section of the city. Lt.Hoffman gave Benoslau his lancer in a sign of surrendering and took him to the officer quarters. While there an explosion rang out and the ceiling collapsed with a beam hitting Benoslau and killing his second in command, Hoffman watched him squirm on the floor for his pistol. He finished him off with a shot to the head. after leaving, Hoffman found total chaos in the fort. His machine gunners where laying down fire on the Indies that took up positions in the burning buildings. During the firefight, Hoffman would find Samuel Byrne with a single round in his back. After the Pesangs told Hoffman that the Indies inside the city were defeated, a King Raven was able to get into contact with Lt.Hoffman and relay orders to him that the COG army had units heading in from the east and west and that they would be relieved in an hour. Legacy After the COG forces were able to relieve the garrison. Lt.Hoffman was promoted to Captain and awarded the Sovereigns Medal.Gears of War: Anvil Gate p. 426 A Monument was built in the Tomb of the Unknowns. The battle would have a lasting effect on Hoffman, with him comparing it to the Siege of Jacinto and the Lambent attacks on Vectes Island, and giving him advanced knowledge on how to outlast an enemy on sieges and rationing supplies. Though Anvil Gate would have a lasting effect on Hoffman’s life, the thing that bothered him the most, wasn't that he executed a civilian that stole food for his family, but that he faked a surrender. Especially the fact that Major Toly gave them honorable terms, and the fact that the COG army was over 7 hours away and only two-hundred Indie soldiers laid siege to the garrison. The siege also partially led Adam Fenix to decide to create orbital beam weapons as deterrents to war. Years later, Hoffman would return to Anvil Gate to use it as a refuge against the remanants of the Locust Horde and the Lambent with the belief that once again he could hold the fort against all enemies. He was proven right when he held the fort against both enemies in the Battle of Anvil Gate and Anvil Gate survived through the end of the Locust War and Lambent Pandemic when both foes were destroyed by Adam Fenix's Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon. References Category:Battles Category:COG military victories Category:Events